CITY, UNION TALKS ON MEDICAL SERVICES STALL

Chula Vista, firefighters union disagree about who should get more pay for advanced skills

CHULA VISTA 
Two years ago, Chula Vista city leaders decided they wanted more help faster for residents experiencing medical emergencies, but they have been unable to negotiate an agreement with the firefighters union.

The sticking point appears to be differing opinions about whether all firefighters should be paid more if only a few of them are trained to provide more advanced medical support. If the city and union don’t come to a consensus within the month,﻿ the city may revise the contract it holds with its ambulance provider.

Right now, the city’s emergency medical services are provided on a two-tier system, with the Chula Vista Fire Department providing basic life support with EMTs and American Medical Response providing advanced life support with paramedics.

Additional training for some of the city’s firefighters could cut the patients’ wait time for the advanced support by two minutes. About 85 percent of the Fire Department’s calls are for medical emergencies.

The fire department usually arrives on-scene at an emergency within eight minutes on average, while American Medical Response gets there an average of two minutes later. AMR’s 10-minute response time on 90 percent of medical calls is also two minutes slower than the national standard recommended by both the National Fire Protection Association and the American Heart Association.

“Some people think two minutes’ difference doesn’t mean a whole lot, but when you’re talking about a medical emergency, it could be all the difference,” Assistant City Manager Scott Tulloch said.

City Manager Jim Sandoval has recommended, with the official endorsement of Fire Chief David Hanneman, obtaining special advanced life support training for some firefighters, which would qualify them as paramedics so they are on scene before ambulances typically arrive. In exchange, those specially trained firefighters would receive an annual stipend amounting to 15 percent of their salaries.

“This option is preferred because when fully implemented it will provide an additional 13 paramedics working in the city each day,” stated a recent memo from Sandoval to the City Council. “This will provide additional capabilities in the event of a disaster or major medical event in the city. This will also provide trained paramedics on scene of all our fires in the event that we encounter a victim or if one of our firefighters is injured.”

But Michael Nash, president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2180, says that if some firefighters provide advanced support, all firefighters should be paid more. He wants a 3 percent salary increase for all firefighters if the city moves forward with its plan.

“The paramedics with advanced life support can do various things, so those people with that special training would be getting greater compensation than the rest of us who are going to be basically helping that person use their skills,” Nash explained. “Because a paramedic cannot do their job alone without any assistance.”

He also reasoned that having a paramedic on every team would mean fewer personnel on-scene when the team starts administering advanced life support. Right now, the fire department’s EMTs have to wait until two AMR paramedics arrive before they can help conduct advanced life support.